‘The Rock’ – down under’s physical and spiritual heart – certainly is amongst the top ten ‘must-do’s’ in each and every Australian travel guide. The world’s largest monolith, situated in the red outback of Australia’s Northern Territory, attracts thousands of inquisitive visitors each year. Those, in turn, blatantly attract inconsistent positions on a very sensitive topic: ‘To climb or not to climb Uluru’ could be designated the quintessential question of the discussion presented in this paper. To add fuel to the hot debate, the authorities of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park published a draft management plan in June 2009 targeting to prohibit the climb for the near future due to cultural, safety and environmental reasons (Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park – Draft Management Plan 2009-2019, p. 89).

Since 1985, the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has been back in the hands of its traditional owners – the Anangu people (western desert Aboriginal peoples who have traditional affiliations with the area around Uluru). Coupled with such fundamental change, awareness of the rock’s religious significance has risen (McKercher et all, 2008). According to the emerging and empowered Anangu ‘the climb’ is of great spiritual significance. For them, it is the traditional route taken by the Anangu ancestral Mala upon arrival at Uluru (‘dreaming tracks’). Tony Tjamiwa is quoted in the draft management plan: ‘That rock is really important and sacred. You shouldn’t climb it! Climbing is not a proper tradition for this place.’ Moreover, according to their cultural beliefs, the traditional owners have an allocated responsibility for the visitors of the park. This implies that Indigenous Australians of the Uluru region enter a grieving process every time a visitor is hurt or dies on ‘the climb’.

For these reasons, climbing sacred Uluru is increasingly seen as inappropriate, culturally insensitive and socially unacceptable (McKercher et all, 2008). However, it has remained open until today and still attracts more than 100.000 tourists annually, despite signs urging visitors to show respect and stay at the rock’s base (Batty, 2009).

Another reason arguing for the climb’s closure provided in the draft management plan are health and safety issues. According to Australia’s environment minister Peter Garrett there are ‘strong reasons’ for a ban, taking visitor safety into account (Garrett, 2009). The climb is physically demanding and can be dangerous as it is very steep and can be slippery. Unsafe weather conditions, such as strong winds or temperatures above 40°C, guarantee that the experience is not a ‘walk in the park’. According to the ‘Department of the environment, water, heritage and the arts’, at least 35 people have died attempting to climb Uluru. Others are frequently rescued with broken bones, heat exhaustion and extreme dehydration.

Finally, the environmental impacts on Uluru should be emphasised. It is argued that erosion caused by the eager tourist-millipede is gradually changing the face of down under’s tourism icon. Furthermore, lack of toilet facilities on the top of the rock steadily reduces the water quality of waterholes fed by drains from the climb site. This, in turn, has devastating effects on the fauna dependent on the respective waterholes (Department of the environment, water, heritage and the arts, 2009).

After a two-months period of public consultation and discussion, which has officially been closed on September 04, the draft management plan is soon to be presented to the Australian parliament for final approval. The very sensitive topic has stimulated a lively debate between various stakeholders involved. Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, for instance, states it would be sad if such an experience can no longer be enjoyed by Australians and guests from abroad. Rudd is against a closure of the climb and believes that public safety concerns could be addressed through appropriate management plans (Agence France Presse, 2009). Chris Burns, tourism minister for the Northern Territory, is quoted in the Guardian: ‘We have never supported the full closure of the climb at Uluru and that remains our position’. The tourism representatives particularly fear a downturn in visitor arrivals if the climb will be closed (Adlam, 2009), which is most certainly the reason for Burn’s position.

Indigenous voices, on the other hand, modestly ask for respect regarding their religious beliefs. Eventually, it will be in Peter Garrett’s hands to put an end to the public argument. He promised to carefully consider all submissions and to make a decision in due course (ABC Premium News, 2009). Let’s hope for the best… Let’s hope for the ‘cultural sensitivity’ of the policymakers.

202 Comments

I really enjoyed reading your article. This is clearly a very debatable issue. Your article states very clear why stakeholder conflicts evolve around this topic. Very recognizable for me as well. When I was visiting Uluru, my tourguide gave me the option to climb it. However, he did inform me about the sacred background of Uluru, which ultimately made me decide not to climb it. But this did not make my experience any less, as it is still an amazing attraction for the eye. So what I wonder when reading your article is if closing the climb will really result in a decline of visitor numbers? Although not a “must-do” anymore, what you call it in your introduction, I think it will always remain a “must-see”. I am curious what your opinion would be on this?

Nice article, professional writing style and interesting topic. Unfortunately I have not been (yet) to Australia and I am not familiar with the local traditions but it would be interesting to know how the country usually handles these kind of issues (Considering Australias history for sure there have been similar problems in the past).
Next time try to focus a little less on the facts and give a little more of your own opinions/a possible solution for the future.

Thank you for your comments on my article! I’m glad you enjoyed reading it! You are exactly right: the rock will always remain a fantastic tourism attraction and definitely a ‘must-see’ for everyone who visits the Northern Territory. The management of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park claims that 98 % of all visitors would still visit the park, even if they wouldn’t be able to climb Uluru. They refer to a research, which was undertaken over a three-year period to assess visitor’s motivation for climbing it. However, there are also good reasons for the tourism industry to fear a decline of tourist arrivals. It is sad but true: for many visitors it is the ultimate ‘Aussi experience’ to stand on the top of the rock and get a good view of Australia’s outback. Check for instance this blog: http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=495912&showcomments=true
You can scroll through the different comments and you will see how many people simply don’t care about the Indigenous beliefs, which is terrifying. Consequently, I do believe that visitor arrivals are likely to decrease slightly after a closure of the climb. Nevertheless, even if this would be the case, I believe it would be a loss, which the tourism industry of the Northern territory has to take! Don’t you think?

Hi Philipp!

Thanks for your comment as well! You are right – I like to strengthen facts and build up arguments based on resources. I believe this way I feel more secure… I will try to bring in my own thoughts a bit more in my next article! Thanks for that!

Even though Australia is not familiar to me, your article has brought me a clear panorama of the Anangu aboriginal culture and its conflict with tourism. Taking into account the claim of this community, it is evident that there is a mistake in the plan of the Uluru-Kata Tjua National Park, then the beliefs and costumes of Anangu were ignored, consequently disrespected. From my point of view, it is essential to keep a communication flow with all the stakeholders previous executing a project, not only identifying the relevant ones, or determining their expectations as the theory states, but also knowing more about them. Then it comes to my mind the question, until what point is the community involved in the development of the sustainable tourism?

Very interesting topic and well-written. I was specially surprised to read that government stakeholders (including Chris Burns, tourism minister for the Northern Territory) think that it should be allowed to continue climbing the Ayers Rock in spite of the direspect that this represents for the culture of the local community(aborigines). As you may know, Australia promotes itself through an offer of different experiences, so this government position seems very incoherent to Australia’s marketing efforts to “sell” the true Aboriginal experience to its domestic/foreign visitors. I had done some benchmarking works in the past on Tourism Australia (the Australia tourist board) so it is curious to notice how the marketing efforts of a nation (of respecting the aboriginal culture, in this case) can be opposed by its own government – that creates a incoherence that is very negative to a country’s brand image, as we’ve seen in Robert Gover’s guest lecture on place branding. As per brand image, don’t you think that the prohibition of climbing the Uluru could be used as a smart marketing strategy to Australia to position its respect for the aboriginal culture? I believe that they wasted a very smart marketing opportunity to reinforce their “aboriginal experience” tourism product!

Thank you very much for your comment on my article. This is indeed a very interesting approach, which – as far as I know – has not been considered by Tourism Australia. I believe that your idea of incorporating this aspect in their marketing communications would actually greatly support their current position: the movie ‘Australia’, which was launched a year ago, was a very successful representation of Australia’s history, including the Assimilation Policy and the traditional owners of the country. Since then, the little Aboriginal boy – one of the main characters of the movie – was utilised in their tourism commercials. The ‘Come Walkabout’ marketing slogan would indeed lay the necessary foundation for your marketing idea of showing respect towards the Indigenous people. Maybe you should inform Tourism Australia about that? 😉

Dear interested readers. Please find below the latest update on the Draft Management Plan, which I believe are very sad news:

The Gold Coast Bulletin (October 21, 2009 Wednesday)

Tourists might be allowed to keep climbing Uluru after all.
A controversial Federal Government plan to close the climb appears to have been dropped. About 100,000 make the climb up the World Heritage-listed rock each year.
National Parks wanted to close the climb to respect the indigenous owners and for safety reasons. There were also concerns about visitors using the rock as a toilet and leaving rubbish.
Now Peter Cochrane, director of National Parks, has told a Senate estimates hearing the plan to close the climb has been ‘revised’.
‘The board has certainly revised the wording in the section dealing with the climb’, he told the hearing.
Mr Cochrane would not reveal what the change was, but said he had paid close attention to complaints by the tourism industry about the impact on them if the climb were closed.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who came out and opposed the plan to close the climb earlier this year, appears to have made his mark too.
‘The board noted that those comments were made’, said Mr Cochrane of Mr Rudd’s intervention.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham, who led the questioning in the hearing, welcomed the step-down on the climb.
He said Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who has expressed sympathy for indigenous owners who would like to see the climb closed, had been overruled by Mr Rudd.
‘Mr Rudd clearly had to pull his Environment Minister Mr Garrett into line’, he said.
The board expects to finalise its recommendation and pass it on to Mr Garrett for approval by the end of this year. Mr Cochrane said more consultation would take place with the indigenous owners before then, and more changes could be made to the draft.

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Even so, it appears the proportion of visitors who climb has dropped over the years. The park estimates that around 38 percent of visitors climb each year, down from 74 per cent in 1990. Reasons for the drop included deference to local culture, as well as lack of interest in climbing and safety concerns.